Category: Math

Hi, there! We’ve finished studying the early farmers and Old Kingdom Egypt. For both we made barley. It turns out my rice cooker that’s terrible for rice does a great job with barley if you set it on brown rice.

We also made and played Snake. Normally it’s made on a slab of clay with pebbles or little figures of gods and goddesses for pieces, but this one is printable and colorable. Click the picture below or this link to go to Flickr and download it. I included some animal hieroglyphs to use as pieces if you want, but we used Monopoly pieces.

You can use a die, a spinner or trivia/flash cards to run along the snake’s body from the mouth to the eye. Or you can color it to match Candyland and use those cards. It’s easy to get creative. We used the “Poster” setting in our printer properties to tile it on cardstock to make a bigger board.

Sagan has been counting up to 79 the past few days and, as always, doing well sorting by category. I can hardly wait until he’s old enough to be let loose in the garage. (I’m not born organized.)

After reading me all the numbers on a measuring tape this morning, we decided to build the Samurai X Lego kit (400+ pieces).

You can use any Lego kit. We used this one because Sagan’s favorite Ninjago character is Nya. (She built her own exosuit.) Also because it was marked down from $35 to $20, heh.

The Lego Kit booklets require and reinforce the number line and sequential tasks. I had him read the number for each step before beginning.

He put together the minifigs and their accessories himself first.

After sorting the pieces by color and/or size in a sectioned tray (an egg carton would work), I demonstrated the first few pages of the next steps while he counted them for me.

Here he told me it was step 15, and I asked him to look for gray squares with spheres and beige trapezoids. He put the bigger pieces together and I did the smaller ones.

Here we needed a red rectangle with two holes. I had him read “2x” and explained it meant “two pieces”. From this point on he also started saying how many pieces we needed and pulled them all out before putting them together.

Some pieces are easier than others,

but here he learned “right angle” as it applies to manipulatives, and decided himself that the other piece looked like a red sled.

From Mom:

This list is adapted from suggested reading in the US Dept. of Education’s Cemrel program, which I went through and my mother and grandmother taught back in the late 20th Century. Cemrel taught math through reading, songs, word problems, manipulatives and real-world application. You can get Cemrel teaching materials here in PDF form for as long as they stay there.

130+ Counting Books

As the books below are at least 20 years old (that makes ME vintage, doesn’t it?), I suggest ordering them from your local library’s website if you can. Some of the books repeat year to year but I have kept the lists separated by age group.

Note: I did say they are at least 20 years old. That means some of them are time-tested classics but others may have social implications that are no longer mainstream. There are a few here my son won’t be reading and others I may use for discussions in cultural or gender bias.

We’ve already discussed how the monkeys could have been nicer to Cecily G….

Pre-K, Kindergarten and First Grade

Animal Numbers by Bert Kitchen
Anno’s Counting Book by Mitsumasa Anno
Anno’s Counting House by Mitsumasa Anno
April Rabbits, The by David Cleveland
Arthur’s Funny Money by Lillian Hoban
Babar’ s Counting Book by Laurent De Brunhoff
Bears on Wheels by Stan and Jan Berenstain
Berenstain Bears’ Counting Book, The by Stan and Jan Berenstain
Brian Wildsmith’s 1, 2, 3’s by Brian Wildsmith
Brian Wildsmith’s Twelve Days of Christmas by Brian Wildsmith
Brown Cow Farm: A Counting Book by D. Ipcar
Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina
Cat Can’t Count, A by Blossom Budney
Cat Count by Betsy Lewin
Cecily G. and the 9 Monkeys by H. A. Rey
Chicken Little Count-to-ten by Margaret Friskey
Circus Numbers; A Counting Book by Rodney Peppe
Count and See by Tana Hoban
Count on Calico Cat by Donald Charles
Count on Clifford by Norman Bridwell
Counting Penguins: Zero to Nine by Caroline Walton Howe
Counting Sheep by John Archambault
Crictor by Tomi Ungerer
Crows: An Old Rhyme by Heide Holder
Dancing in the Moon: Counting Rhymes by Fritz Eichenberg
Day the Count Stopped Counting, The by David Korr
Demi’ s Count the Animals 1-2-3 by Demi
Fish Eyes: A Book You Can Count On by Lois Ehlert
Five Chinese Brothers, The by Claire H. Bishop and Kurt Weise
Five Little Ducks by Raffi
Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed by Eileen Christelow
Five Little Monkeys Sitting in the Tree by Eileen Christelow
Hare and the Tortoise by Paul Galdone
Harriet Goes to the Circus by Betty Maestro
Hippos Go Berserk by Sandra Boynton
How Many Snails?: A Counting Book by Paul Giganti, Jr.
How Many Teeth? by Paul Showers
lfYou Take a Pencil by Fulvio Testa
Invitation to the Butteifly Ball, An by Jane H. Yolen
Jeanne-Marie Counts Her Sheep by Francoise
John Burningham’s 1 2 3 by John Burningham
Learn to Count by Richard Scarry
Little Monster’s Counting Book by Mercer Mayer
Little Red Hen: An Old Story, The by Margot Zemach
Marcel Marceau Counting Book, The by George Mendoza
Mitten: An Old Ukrainian Folktale, The by Alvin R. Tresselt
Moja Means One: Swahili Counting Book by Muriel Feelings
Mouse Count by Ellen Stoll Walsh A-1
Mouse Numbers and Letters by Jim Arnosky
Mr. Gumpy’ s Outing by John Burningham
Numbears: A Counting Book by Kathleen and Michael Hague
Number Families by Jane Jonas Srivastava
Number Ideas Through Pictures by Mannis Charosh
Numbers by Philip Carona
Numbers by Jan Pienkowski
Numbers on Parade by Anthony P. Kramer
Numbers: A Book by John J. Reiss
Numbers: A First Counting Book by Robert Allen
Odds and Evens by Thomas O’Brein
One Bear All Alone by Caroline Bucknall
One Crow: A Counting Rhyme by Jim Aylesworth
One Dancing Drum by Gail Kredenser
One Duck, Two Duck by Charlotte Pomerantz
One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss
1 Hunter by Pat Hutchins
1 is One by Tasha Tudor
One is the Engine: A Counting Book by Esther Meeks
One Old Oxford Ox by Nicola Bayley
One Snail and Me: A Book of Numbers by Emilie and Warren McLeod
One Step, Two . .. by Charlotte Zolotow
1, 2, 3 by Tana Hoban
One, Two, Three, An Animal Counting Book by Marc Brown
One, Two, Three, and Four No More? by Catherine Gray
1, 2, 3, to the Zoo: A Counting Book by Eric Carle
One Was Johnny by Maurice Sendak
One Watermelon Seed by Celia Barker Lottridge
One Woolly Wombat by Rod Trinca
Our Tooth Story: A Tale ofTwenty Teeth by Ethel and Leonard Kessler
Over in the Meadow by Paul Galdone
Over in the Meadow by John M. Langstaff
Over in the Meadow by Olive A. Wadsworth
Parade by Donald Crews
Project 1-2-3 by Eve Merriam
Pumpkin, Pumpkin by Jeanne Titherington
Relatives Came, The by Cynthia Rylant
Richard Scarry’s Best Counting Book Ever by Richard Scarry
Right Number of Elephants, The by Jeff Sheppard
Rooster’s Off to See the World by Eric Carle
Rooster Who Set Out to See the World, The by Eric Carle
Sesame Street 1, 2, 3 Storybook, The by Emily Perl Kingsley
Sesame Street Book of Numbers, The by Falster
Sets and Numbers for the Very Young by Irving and Ruth Adler
Seven Little Monsters by Maurice Sendak
Seven Little Rabbits by John Becker
Shopping Basket, The by John Burningham
Six Foolish Fisherman: Based on Folktale by Benjamin Elkin
Six Little Ducks by Chris Conover
Sixes and Sevens by John Yoeman
So Many Cats! by Beatrice Schenk deRegniers
Stickybear Numbers by Richard Hefter
Still Another Number Book by S. Chwast and M. S. Moskof
Teddy Bears 1 to 10 by Susanna Gretz
Ten Alarm Camp-Out, The by Cathy Warren
Ten Apples Up on Top! by Theo. LeSieg (Dr. Seuss)
10 Bears in My Bed, A Goodnight Countdown by Stanley Mack
Ten Black Dots by Donald Crews
Ten Little Animals by Laura Jane Coats
Ten Little Elephants by Robert Leydenfrost
Ten Little Mice by Joyce Dunbar
Ten Little Rabbits by Virginia Grossman
Ten, Nine, Eight by Molly Bang
Thirteen Days of Halloween, The by Carol Greene
This Old Man by Carol Jones
Three Bears, The by Paul Galdone
Three by Three by James Kruss
Three Little Kittens by Paul Galdone
Too Many Monsters by Susan Meddaugh
Twelve Days of Christmas, The by Robert Broomfield
Twelve Days of Christmas, The by Ilowka Karasz
Twelve Days of Christmas by Jack Kent
Two Bad Ants by Chris Van Allsburg
Up to Ten and Down Again by Lisa Campbell Ernst
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
What Comes in 2’s, 3’s, & 4’s? by Suzanne Aker
When Sheep Cannot Sleep, the Counting Book by Satoshi Kitamura
Who’s Counting? by Nancy Tafuri
Wildlife 1-2-3, A Nature Counting Book, The by Jan Thornhill
Witches Four by Marc Brown

Second Grade:

Billions of Bugs by Haris Petie
Count on Your Fingers African Style by Claudia Zaslavsky
Knots on A Counting Rope by Bill Martin, Jr. and John Archambault
Less Than Nothing is Really Something by Robert Fromes
Numbers of Things by Helen Oxenbury
One Hundred Hungry Ants by Elinor J. Pinczes
Only One by Marc Harshman
Phoebe and the Hot Water Bottles by Terry Furchgott and Linda Dawson
17 Kings and 42 Elephants by Margaret Mahy
Shopping Basket, The by John Burningham
Socrates and the Three Little Pigs by Mitsumasa Anno and Tuyosi Mori
10 for Dinner by Jo Ellen Bogart
Ten What? A Mystery Counting Book by Russell Hoban
Twelve Circus Rings, The by Seymour Chwast
Two of Everything by Lily Toy Hong
Two Ways to Count to Ten by Ruby Dee
When the King Rides By by Margaret Mahy
Zero Is Not Nothing by Mindel and Harry Sitomer
Zero: Is It Something? Is It Nothing? by Claudia Zaslavsky

Third Grade:

Count on Your Fingers African Style by Claudia Zaslavsky
Count Your Way Through… (series highlighting different countries) by Jim Haskins
Counting by Henry Pluckrose
How to Count Like a Martian by Glory St. John
Knots on a Counting Rope by Bill Martin, Jr. and John Archambault
Less Than Nothing is Really Something by Robert Fromes
One Hundred Hungry Ants by Elinor J. Pinczes
One Is Unique by Marnie Luce
Only One by Marc Harshman
Phoebe and the Hot Water Bottles by Terry Furchgott and Linda Dawson
17 Kings and 42 Elephants by Margaret Mahy
666 Jelly Beans! All That by Malcolm Weiss
Ten What? A Mystery Counting Book by Russell Hoban
Twelve Circus Rings, The by Seymour Chwast
Two of Everything by Lily Toy Hong
Two Ways to Count to Ten by Ruby Dee
When the King Rides By by Margaret Mahy
Zero Is Not Nothing by Mindel and Harry Sitomer
Zero: Is It Something? Is It Nothing? by Claudia Zaslavsky
Zero Is Something by Marnie Luce